On October 2, 2013, House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee Chairman Jack Kingston spoke the House floor in support of H.J. Res. 73, the Research for Lifesaving Cures Act. The House approved the bill, 254-171.

Chairman Kingston's statement follows:

"Mr. Speaker, the Research for Lifesaving Cures Act will continue support for basic bio-medical research, young investigators, critical clinical trials, and vital basic medical research that is the building block for finding lifesaving cures at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"The current rate for the NIH is almost $29 billion. This bill will allow NIH to continue to operate at this -- the FY 2013 funding level-- until December 15th. This should be supported by all Members of Congress as it mirrors the “clean CR” that the House Minority and Senate Democrats say they will support.

"The NIH’s mission is to invest in basic biomedical research to uncover new knowledge that can lead to lifesaving cures for disease and health for all Americans.

"NIH is the primary bio-medical research institution in the world as it supports discoveries that allow partners to develop lifesaving cures and treatments for cancers, heart disease, chronic diseases like juvenile diabetes, and other rare and neglected diseases.

"NIH research project grants result in a leveraging of federal funds with non-federal funds of up to 40 percent. The American taxpayer supports about 35,000 extramural investigator-initiated research project grants at over 3,000 research institutes and universities from around the country with funds provided to the NIH.

"The bill also provides support for young investigators who will be the pipeline for finding future lifesaving cures.

"In addition, this bill allows the Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and the NIH intramural researchers from the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers to continue to support their basic, applied, and clinical research, including pediatric clinical trials.

"It is important that we allow the NIH to stay open while we continue to work toward regular order to get the rest of the federal government funded as well.

"Mr. Speaker, the Research for Lifesaving Cures Act keeps the NIH open, so they can continue to support lifesaving bio-medical research and cures for all Americans.